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Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized ‘Vallerani’ Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems

Authors:
Issa Gammoh at University of Jordan
Issa Gammoh
Theib Oweis at Formerly International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) & Tottori University, Tottori, Japan
Theib Oweis
  • Formerly International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) & Tottori University, Tottori, Japan
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Mechanized construction of micro-catchments for water harvesting (WH) was successfully tested in the Badia (dry rangeland) areas in Syria and Jordan, using the “Vallerani” plow, model Delfino (50 MI/CM), manufactured by Nardi, Italy. The plow was able to construct intermittent and continuous contour ridges, and could potentially be used to rehabilitate degraded rangelands. However, one major issue for large-scale implementation is the high cost and time required to manually identify contours for the plow to follow. Most existing auto-guiding systems, as usually used in road construction and agricultural land leveling, were expensive or impractical. The objective, therefore, was to add, adapt, and evaluate an auto-guiding system to enable a tractor to follow contours without demarcation through conventional surveying. A low-cost Contour Laser Guiding (CLG) system, with specifications that suit the contour ridging in undulating topographic conditions of dry rangelands, was chosen, adapted, mounted, and tested, under actual field conditions. The system consisted mainly of a portable laser transmitter and a tractor-mounted receiver, connected to a guidance display panel. The system was field-tested on 95 ha of land where the system capacity was determined under different terrains, slopes (1-8%), and ridge spacings (4-12 m). The easy adaptation and implementation of the CLG to the “Vallerani” unit tripled the system capacity, improved efficiency and precision, and substantially reduced the cost of constructing micro-catchments for WH. The system is recommended for large-scale rangeland rehabilitation projects in the dry areas, not only in West Asia, but worldwide.
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Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 5 (2011) 1309-1316
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani”
Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
I.A. Gammoh1 and T.Y. Oweis2
1. Department of Horticulture and Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
2. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria
Received: April 29, 2011 / Accepted: May 30, 2011 / Published: October 20, 2011.
Abstract: Mechanized construction of micro-catchments for water harvesting (WH) was successfully tested in the Badia (dry
rangeland) areas in Syria and Jordan, using the “Vallerani” plow, model Delfino (50 MI/CM), manufactured by Nardi, Italy. The plow
was able to construct intermittent and continuous contour ridges, and could potentially be used to rehabilitate degraded rangelands.
However, one major issue for large-scale implementation is the high cost and time required to manually identify contours for the plow
to follow. Most existing auto-guiding systems, as usually used in road construction and agricultural land leveling, were expensive or
impractical. The objective, therefore, was to add, adapt, and evaluate an auto-guiding system to enable a tractor to follow contours
without demarcation through conventional surveying. A low-cost Contour Laser Guiding (CLG) system, with specifications that suit
the contour ridging in undulating topographic conditions of dry rangelands, was chosen, adapted, mounted, and tested, under actual
field conditions. The system consisted mainly of a portable laser transmitter and a tractor-mounted receiver, connected to a guidance
display panel. The system was field-tested on 95 ha of land where the system capacity was determined under different terrains, slopes
(1-8%), and ridge spacings (4-12 m). The easy adaptation and implementation of the CLG to the “Vallerani” unit tripled the system
capacity, improved efficiency and precision, and substantially reduced the cost of constructing micro-catchments for WH. The system
is recommended for large-scale rangeland rehabilitation projects in the dry areas, not only in West Asia, but worldwide.
Key words: Badia, land degradation, contour micro-catchments, laser guiding, Vallerani system.
1. Background
Micro-catchment water harvesting (WH) systems
have been tested in the dry rangelands for rehabilitation
and combating desertification in these low rainfall
areas. In the Jordanian and Syrian dry rangelands
(Badia), investigations have demonstrated several
successes over hundreds of hectares (Fig. 1). WH
techniques included contour ridges and bunds
implemented along contour lines of sloped areas;
however, most of these techniques have lacked
specialized machinery that supports their
implementation. The conventional methods were slow,
costly, and laborious. Al-Tabini et al. [1] reported that
Corresponding author: I.A. Gammoh, assistant professor,
Ph.D., main research fields: dry land rehabilitation,
mechanization of water harvesting systems. E-mail:
issagammoh@yahoo.com.
the lack of mechanized power (of unconventional
machinery) in establishing WH systems has limited its
large-scale implementation.
Mechanized intermittent and continuous contour
ridging, the so-called “Vallerani” system, was
Fig. 1 Contour water-harvesting micro-catchments
constructed by the Vallerani mechanized system (Badia,
Jordan).
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1310
successfully tested for rehabilitating the degraded dry
rangelands in many West-Asian, North African, and
Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in the Badia
and has been the most successful method so far.
In this system, the WH structures are constructed by
a special plough designed to construct open contour
micro-catchments of either a continuous furrow/ridge
or semicircular micro-basins (bunds) at a high capacity
of 400 micro-basins/h, Antinori and Malagnoux et al.
[2, 3] reported up to 700-1200 micro-basins/h. This can
provide substantial soil water storage capacity of
0.200-0.600 m3/bund [4]. In addition, its
implementation provided a low cost and practical
means of constructing the WH systems at 15-20 ha/d [2,
5]. Taking into account the harsh topographic
conditions prevailing in the Badia, such capacity is
acceptable for large-scale implementation.
The “Vallerani” system has been tested by ICARDA
since 1997 in Syria and Jordan as well as many North
African countries; however, it has not reached its
potential capacity due to the slow pace and high cost of
manual layout of the contour lines, which should
precede the implementation. A team of three surveyors
was able to establish contours for only 5 ha/d, which
was considered as a bottleneck in its implementation.
In Syria, research within the project “Communal
Management and Optimization of Mechanized
Micro-catchment Water Harvesting for Combating
Desertification in the East Mediterranean Region” on
the costing of the implementation of the system showed
that manual identification of contour lines preceding
the operation more than doubled the total cost per
hectare of constructing the ridges [6, 7].
To overcome this limitation of the system, this work
aimed at developing a mechanism to guide the tractor
to run automatically along the contour lines without the
need to follow surveyors’ marks. Several GPS-based
auto-guiding systems were considered
(www.trimble.com/agriculture) for this purpose, which
were either very costly and/or very complicated. The
most suitable was a laser-based guiding system (LGS).
The system was first adapted for land-leveling in
agriculture, mining, and road construction applications
in many countries such as Australia, India, Japan, and
the US. The LGS in such applications consists of:
(1) A transmitter of a rotating laser beam. The
transmitter is mounted on a tripod which allows the
laser beam to sweep unobstructed above the tractor,
with the plane of light above the field;
(2) A laser receiver mounted on a mast intercepts the
laser beam, detects the position of the laser reference
and sends a signal to the control panel;
(3) An electrical control panel interprets the signal
from the receiver, magnifies it, and sends an actuating
signal to the tractor hydraulic system;
(4) An electro-hydraulic control valve which controls
oil flow, to raise or lower a leveling bucket or blade.
This system, described by Rickman and Jat et al. [8,
9], requires alteration of the tractor hydraulic system
for installation of the electro-hydraulic control valve. It
also requires much field preparation and a topographic
survey.
Fortunately, contour ridging has no leveler (i.e.
blade or bucket) needing to be lowered and raised by an
electro-hydraulic valve. This encourages the use and
adaptation of the LGS without the control valve
(component (d) mentioned above), and the replacement
of the control panel (component (c) mentioned above)
with a display panel. Therefore, these changes end up
with a simpler Contour Laser Guiding (CLG) system.
Thus, the objective of the current research work was
to improve the capacity of the “Vallerani” mechanized
system in contour ridging by adding, adapting and
evaluating a CLG to enable a tractor to follow the
contour lines “on-the-go” (i.e. without prior marking of
the contour lines).
2. Methodology
The Vallerani WH contour ridging is a heavy load
soil formation that consists of constructing deep (30-60
cm) continuous or intermittent ridges or bunds (pits)
along a contour line. The ridges are made to face the
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1311
upstream slope, thus runoff water flowing downstream
is intercepted and collected within the created bund to
infiltrate and fill the soil profile for plant use. The
distance between two successive contour ridges usually
ranges from 4 to 16 m, depending on the runoff
coefficient, soil characteristics, slope, and the plants to
be grown. Therefore, the fall in elevation between
ridges varies accordingly.
The “Vallerani” machine (model Delfino (50
MI/CM), manufactured by Nardi, Italy) was attached to
a 134 HP (98.5 kW) tractor (model L135 TDI, Landini,
Italy) with the CLG devices mounted and operated.
The system was tested on 95.4 ha in the Jordan Badia
in different fields with slopes of range 2-8% and with 4,
6, 8, and 12 m spacing between successive contour
ridges, on 18.2, 17.5, 33.3, and 26.4 ha, respectively.
For all worked fields, the traveling speed in plowing
and the speed in transporting between passes were 3.8
and 6.2 km/h, respectively. Area covered and time
spent, to work fields with different spacing between
successive contour rides, were recorded.
2.1 CLG Devices and the Principle of Operation
The CLG can detect and measure the difference in
elevation between the current tractor position (while
traveling) and that of a reference point in the field as
displayed on a panel in front of the tractor operator.
The operator can easily steer the tractor in a way that
keeps this difference unchanged, thus maintaining
tractor travel on the contour line. In this case, the
required CLG devices are a laser transmitter (1000-m
radius of coverage) mounted on a tripod (Fig. 2), a laser
receiver mounted on a mast (Fig. 3), and an electrical
display panel (Fig. 4) with visual and sound display.
The laser transmitter transmits a rotating laser beam
(in the horizontal plane), which is intercepted by the
laser receiver mounted on a telescopic mast on the
tractor and sends a signal to the display panel. The
display panel interprets the signal from the receiver and
displays signals for the operator. The signals indicate
not only the matching of levels, but also how far (up or
Fig. 2 The laser beam transmitter mounted on a tripod on
uphill side.
Fig. 3 Laser receiver mounted on a telescopic mast on the
tractor.
Fig. 4 Display panel mounted in front of the tractor
operator.
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1312
down) the levels do not match, so the operator can
decide where to steer the tractor (left or right) to
maintain travel along the contour. This is true as far as
the beam is intercepted by the receiver. Therefore, the
length of the receiver determines the difference in
elevation that can be detected and determines the time
that the display can show a reading on the panel, and
hence the number of contours worked at the current
position of the receiver.
When switching to the next downhill (or uphill)
contour line, if the receiver can still intercept the laser
beam, then the operator can continue opening ridges
without any adjustments. Otherwise, the operator
should rise (or lower) the receiver on its mast until the
signal is displayed and then continue operation. After
working a number of passes, when it becomes
impossible to raise or lower the receiver on the mast
due to insufficient length of the mast, the transmitter
with its tripod should be either lowered (or raised) or
relocated downhill (or uphill) so the laser beam can
again be intercepted by the receiver.
Providing that the transmitter is located on the uphill
side, the operator, while driving along the contour line,
might face the following five possible guiding
situations and react accordingly (Fig. 5):
(1) The signal on the display panel indicates no
difference in elevation between the laser beam and the
tractor (the tractor is traveling exactly on the contour
line). The operator should keep traveling without
steering right or left;
Fig. 5 Five possible guiding situations (a, b, c, d, and e) met while driving on a contour line with CLG system.
Display signal: No signal: The beam is out of the
receiver range
Reaction: Knowing that the last glowing light was the
right one, TURN LEFT to get back the signal
(d)
Display signal: No signal: The beam is out of the
receiver range
Reaction: Knowing that the last glowing light was the
left one, TURN RIGHT to get back the signal
(e)
Display signal: central green light: Zero
elevation difference, the tractor on the
contour
Reaction: KEEP TRAVELLING
Receiver
Laser beam
Display
panel
(a)
Display signal: right red light: Elevation
difference, the tractor is downhill
Reaction: TURN LEFT
Display signal: left red light:
Elevation difference, the tractor is
uphill
Reaction: TURN RIGHT
(b)
(c)
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1313
(2) The signal on the display panel indicates an
increased difference in elevation between the laser
beam and the tractor (the tractor is downhill of the
contour line). The operator should turn the steering left
(uphill) to reinstate the zero difference;
(3) The signal on the display panel indicates
decreased difference in elevation between the laser
beam and the tractor (the tractor is uphill of the contour
line). The operator should turn the steering right
(downhill) to reinstate the zero difference;
(4) Passing through situation (2), the operator
reacted incorrectly and continued driving downhill
until the display signal has been lost. The operator
should turn the steering left (uphill) to catch the signal
and reinstate a zero difference;
(5) Passing through situation (3), the operator
reacted incorrectly, and continued driving uphill until
the display signal has been lost. The operator should
turn the steering right (downhill) to catch the signal and
reinstate a zero difference.
Therefore, the operator may react differently in each
situation to maintain travel along the contour line. A
skilled operator should work within the first three
possibilities described, i.e. (1), (2), or (3).
2.2 Determining System Capacity
The actual field capacity (AFC) of the system,
measured in ha/hr for each field, was determined by
dividing the area worked over actual time spent as
measured in the field [10].
In evaluating the appropriateness of the CLG in
practical implementation of contour ridging under
prevailing conditions, the following parameters were
determined:
(1) The number of contour ridges (B) that can be
worked without any need to readjust the position of the
receiver on the mast.
B = L/H (Rounded to the nearest whole number),
Where,
L is length of photocells on the receiver. In the
installed devices, (L = 31 cm);
H is the fall in elevation when moving from an uphill
to the next downhill ridge in cm. H = percentage slope
× ridge spacing.
(2) The number of ridges (C) that can be constructed
without any need to lower (or raise) the transmitter on
the tripod or to relocate it downhill (or uphill).
C = D/H (Rounded to the nearest whole number),
where
D is adjustable difference in elevation between the
transmitter and the receiver on the mast according to
ordered devices (D = 120 cm).
The parameters B and C can be considered as
reasonable indicators for high performance during
ridging application on-the-go. The higher they are the
less action is required from the operator while traveling
and consequently the higher the capacity and
automation level of the system. Inversely, the lower B
and C are the greater is the number of adjustments
required.
3. CLG System Performance
The operation was successful in that the ridges were
constructed on the contour lines (as checked by
conventional topography survey instruments), and the
operator was able to easily acquire the guiding skills
within one or two passes.
The average AFC (ha/h) of the system was directly
proportional to the spacing between WH ridges (Table 1).
It ranged from 0.8 ha/h with 4-m spacing to 2.6 ha/h
with 12-m spacing. With the accustomed spacing
followed in the Badia (the 8-m), the AFC averaged 1.8
ha/h, which is equivalent to 18 ha/day in a 10-hours
working day. The overall averaged AFC for all tested
spacings resulted in a 16 ha/day (Table 1). This
obviously showed that the use of CLG system has
eliminated the low implementation pace of Vallerani
WH system when traditional land surveying was used.
The parameters B and C were determined for
different slopes and different spacings between ridges
(Table 2). For example, with slope of 4% and contour
spacing of 8 m (giving a 9-m effective working width),
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1314
Table 1 Area (A) and actual field capacity (AFC) as measured for different spacing between successive ridges in all test fields
(Jordanian Badia), with average AFC for different spacings and the overall average AFC of all fields and spacings.
Ridge spacing 4 m 6 m 8 m 12 m
A (ha) AFC (ha/h) A (ha) AFC (ha/h) A (ha) AFC (ha/h) A (ha) AFC (ha/h)
Test fields
Field 1 2.4 0.68 2.9 0.98 4.8 1.76 7.1 2.59
Field 2 5.8 0.85 3.1 1.02 6.5 1.83 9.4 2.64
Field 3 2.9 0.79 3.4 1.20 3.4 1.81 9.9 2.63
Field 4 3.6 0.81 6.4 1.26 12.4 1.88 - -
Field 5 3.5 0.82 1.7 1.09 4.2 1.85 - -
Field 6 - - - - 2.0 1.80 - -
Average
0.79 1.11 1.82 2.62
Overall Av. AFC 1.59
Table 2 Numbers of ridges that can be made on-the-go before adjusting the receiver (B), and before adjusting the transmitter
(C), calculated for different slopes and spacings between contour ridges.
Slope
To 2% To 4% To 6% To 8%
B C B C B C B C
Ridges spacing (m)
4 4 15 2 7 or 8 1 or 2 5 1 3 or 4
6 2 or 3 10 1 or 2 5 1 3 or 4 1 2 or 3
8 1 or 2 7 1 3 or 4 1 2 or 3 1 1 or 2
12 1 5 1 2 or 3 1 1 or 2 1 1
the operator needed to adjust the receiver each pass (B
= 1) and the elevation of the transmitter every fifth pass
(C = 4). Assuming that the average length of the passes
in such a case was 500 m, thus the area covered was
500m × 9 m × 4 passes, which is equal to 1.8 ha. This
area was doubled with a slope of 2% and contour
spacing of 4 m (Table 2). Furthermore, the automation
level was considerably improved (B = 4 and C = 15).
This is a quite acceptable system efficiency and is
appropriate to the application.
The number of adjustments was clearly increased
(low B and C) with increases in both spacing between
ridges and slope (Table 2). Fortunately, in WH systems,
the steeper the slope the smaller the spacing between
the ridges should be. Therefore, the shaded numbers of
B and C (Table 2) describe techniques that are
practically not used.
The CLG system devices that were installed and
adapted to be used in this work are similar to those used
in land leveling applications, where slopes are mild or
zero. Therefore, the relatively frequent adjustment and
relocation of the transmitter and receiver (low numbers
of B and C) indicate somehow a weakness in the
guiding system. Such a weakness can be overcome by:
(1) Using a longer receiver and a taller mast
especially manufactured for contour ridging;
(2) Using an electro-adjustable mast, so the operator
can relocate the receiver while driving;
(3) Planning the field works to allow construction of
long rather than short contour ridges by switching from
one hill to an adjacent one, and choosing suitable
locations for the transmitter to cover long fields of
similar slope.
The implementation of the CLG on the “Vallerani”
unit was successful in that the operation was accurately
along the contour and the cost of contour layout was
substantially reduced. The surveying works were
completely eliminated from WH operation. The
potential capacity of the mechanized contour ridging
was, therefore, achieved by being able to lay out
contour lines on-the-go for 15-20 ha/d. Following are
some of additional advantages, compared with
Contour Laser Guiding for the Mechanized “Vallerani” Micro-catchment Water Harvesting Systems
1315
conventional surveyed contour ridging:
(1) Time and effort saving: In large-scale
implementation of WH structures it is critical to start
and finish land preparation before the first rain. This
aids timeliness and hence improves WH systems
management;
(2) Cost reduction: Traditional land surveying
(surveyors and equipment) is more costly than CLG,
especially if considered over many years, and bearing
in mind that the targeted areas of interventions have
low productivity;
(3) Ease of operation: While traditional surveying
needs at least two skilled surveyors, the CLG can be
operated by one operator with minimum training;
(4) High accuracy: The tractor driver usually moves
between marks pegged by surveyors in straight lines,
which affects the accuracy of tracing contour lines.
However, in CLG the operator is continuously guided
to trace the contours. This ensures even elevation
inside the catchments and thus ensures an even
distribution of harvested water along them. In addition,
sometimes tractor drivers are confused by closely
spaced adjacent surveyors’ marks and drive toward the
wrong mark;
(5) The laser guidance system can be used as
surveying equipment with greater range of coverage
than traditional surveying equipment, and can guide as
many surveyors or receivers as needed.
4. Conclusion
The adaptation and implementation of the CLG
system to the micro-catchment WH mechanical unit
(“Vallerani”) increased the system efficiency by at
least three times and substantially reduced the cost of
implementation. The improved system, after full
evaluation, is recommended for large-scale
rehabilitation-of-rangeland development projects in the
Badia and similar dry rangelands worldwide.
Furthermore, testing and evaluation revealed that the
performance of the CLG system can, with the
cooperation of manufacturers, be further enhanced to
better suit contour ridging with minor changes to the
devices’ specifications.
Acknowledgments
This research was partly supported by the project
“Communal Management and Optimization of
Mechanized Micro-catchment Water Harvesting for
Combating Desertification in the East Mediterranean
Region” financed by the Swiss Development
Commission (SDC). The research was also supported
by the “Water Benchmarks of CWANA” project,
financed by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social
Development (AFESD), the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the OPEC
Fund for International Development (OFED). The
authors would like to also thank the National Center for
Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE) for the
support provided in the field operations.
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optimization of mechanized micro-catchment water
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... Among these are the efforts of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) since 1997 in Syria and Jordan, which focus on developing, testing, and fine-tuning RWH practices and techniques that can be used in the Badia (Gammoh and Oweis, 2011); among them, the Vallerani mechanized system and the Marab approach are well-proven interventions that minimize land degradation and improve the livelihoods of the local communities. ...
... The micro-basins have a soil water storage capacity of 0.2 to 0.6 m 3 /bunds (Somme et al., 2004), which could support plant growth and facilitate water's percolation into the soil. The distance between two successive counter ridges typically ranges between 4 to 16 m depending on the runoff coefficient, soil characteristics, slope, and plant type to be grown (Gammoh & Oweis, 2011). For effective implementation of the Vallerani, the landscape's slope should be less than 20 %, and the soil depth should be deeper than 30 cm. ...
Suitability mapping of micro and meso scale rain water harvesting for vegetation-Based restoration in arid degraded areas of Jordan
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2024
  • CATENA
Jordan challenges water scarcity and land degradation, driven by a complex interplay of natural, anthropogenic, and political factors. In response to these pressing issues, the Jordanian government has undertaken a comprehensive strategy that combines mitigation and adaptation approaches to combat land degradation and water scarcity and recognizes the intrinsic link between the two challenges. To achieve these goals, one of the strategies implemented in Jordan involves using rainwater harvesting (RWH) in conjunction with promoting increased vegetation cover. This study drew on local and international land rehabilitation and restoration expertise, using two successful RWH sites as benchmarks. These sites guided the identification of essential biophysical factors for implementing the micro-scale Vallerani RWH technique for Badia plant growth and the meso-scale Marab RWH technology for cultivating local barley in the agro-pastoral landscape. This study uses a GIS-based spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique to identify the potentially suitable areas of RWH technologies. Results showed that Jordan has a higher potential for Vallerani implementation compared to Marab RWH after removing any constraints that limit the suitability of the land. At an 80 % threshold and above, about 29 % (23,316 km2) of the land is suitable for the Vallerani and about 9 % (7,583 km2) for the Marab approach. The study provides estimates for suitability in the surface water basins in Jordan. Mujib (mean: 75.8 %) and Azraq (mean: 75.0 %) basins demonstrate high suitability percentages for Marab-Barley RWH, while Hammad (mean: 80.6 %) and Hasa (mean: 80.1 %) basins emerge as the most suitable for Vallerani-saltbushes RWH. Both RWH technologies can be integrated within a watershed approach to restore and rehabilitate degraded areas and improve overall ecosystem services, particularly biomass production for Jordan's agropastoralists.
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... With the aim to rehabilitate the ecosystem and enhance the productivity of degraded agro-pastures, ICARDA, in collaboration with Jordan's National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), for the first time researched, developed and applied mechanized micro water harvesting (MWH) packages in the early 2000s during the 'Water Benchmarks' Project in Central and WANA (Oweis et al. 2006, Karrou et al. 2011. The so called 'Vallerani-Plow' technology (Antinori & Vallerani 1994;Gammoh & Oweis 2011) (Fig. 1) modifies the landscape's surface and thus its hydrology. The 'Vallerani' moldboard plow deep-rips the depleted and crusted soils up to around 0.5 meters depth. ...
... A widely recommended design in Jordan's Badia foresees around ~ 4.0 to 4.5 meters long MWH plowed pits with ~ 0.5 to 1.0 meters spacing between the intermitted pits along the contour line (Strohmeier et al. 2021). Depending on the individual plow adjustments, driving speed of the tractor, and the local soil conditions, the single pits' bottom and ridge are around 0.5 meters wide, of which the top of the ridge exceeds the natural surface by around 0.3 to 0.5 meters (Gammoh & Oweis 2011). The bottom of the pit is mostly around 0.2 to 0.4 meters deeper than the natural soil surface. ...
Managing Scarce Water Resources in the Drylands of West Asia and North Africa: Review of Joint Research between ICARDA and Japanese Researchers
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2021
In the arid regions of the world, maintaining economic and efficient crop production has been among the most critical challenges. In this context, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA) has been leading in research-for-development for improved management of scarce water and land resources in the arid regions. In the new framework of the One CGIAR, the role of ICARDA will be more indispensable as climate change will make considerable negative impact on water resource availability and land sustainability in the dry areas. This review covers selected research works pursued in irrigated, rainfed and agro-pastoral systems in cooperation with Tottori and other Japanese Universities which represent longest history of cooperation between ICARDA and Japan. The review is structured into subsections summarizing joint research on supplemental irrigation (SI) for wheat cultivation to optimize water productivity in semi-arid region of West Asia and North Africa (WANA), and rehabilitation of Jordan's degraded agro-pastural lands with micro water harvesting technology. Joint ICARDA and Japanese Universities' research enhanced knowledge on the various adaptation technologies' effects on the soil-water-plant relationships, which supported the development of tailored solutions and scaling strategies. The results are internationally recognized as contributions to coping with scarce water resources and combating land degradation in arid and semi-arid environments.
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... This speeds up degradation and limits the recovery of the overexploited bare areas. A successfully applied restoration approach in the Jordanian Badia aims at enhancing the dry landscapes' water retention and storage capacity using the Vallerani mechanized micro-catchment water harvesting system (Gammoh and Oweis, 2011). The Vallerani tractor plow creates in situ contour bunds that receive surface runoff (and suspended sediment) from a small upstream catchment. ...
... The interspace between the contour/ bund lines was 10-17 m forming micro-catchments to provide runoff which is collected, stored and infiltrated in the soil profile below and around the bunds. The machine can construct bunds to cover about 3 ha per hour with an average cost of 20-30 US$/hectare (Gammoh and Oweis, 2011;Oweis, 2017). ...
Micro-catchment water harvesting-based rehabilitation ameliorated soil microbial abundance, diversity and function in a degraded dryland
Article
  • Aug 2021
  • APPL SOIL ECOL
Degraded drylands have a limited ecosystem functionality and require well-targeted rehabilitation interventions and sustainable land management for improvement. A promising rehabilitation package using mechanized micro-catchment water harvesting, to support the development of out-planted native shrub seedlings, is being introduced in Jordan's Badia. However, the impacts of rehabilitation on the soil microbial communities through the changes in soil physicochemical properties, and microbial potential contribution to soil function and stability are unclear. In the present study, soil microbial properties (abundance, community structure, community composition, diversity, network complexity, and decomposition function) and their relations with selected physicochemical properties (moisture, pH, salinity, and organic matter quantity and quality) were investigated in the micro-catchment water harvesting bunds in comparison with those in untreated interspace areas four years after implementation. At the bunds, fungal and bacterial abundances increased significantly, as did prokaryotic diversity, prokaryotic function to produce decomposing enzymes, and the redundancy of these functions. Furthermore, Burkholderiales (plant growth-promoting bacteria) and Cytophagales (cellulolytic bacteria) increased in the bunds. Enhanced soil moisture, through the rehabilitation, was likely a key for the improvements of the microbiota, including the increases in the abundances of fungi and the specific bacteria (Burkholderiales and Cytophagales), most of the decomposition function, and the functional redundancy. Furthermore, the decrease in salinity due to leaching resultant from the infiltration of collected surface runoff at the bunds likely supported an increase in diversity and parts of the function. The results suggest that the rehabilitation has multiple beneficial impacts on soil microbial communities, which further contribute to long-term ecosystem functionality and stability.
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... Soil and land management practices are often essential preliminary operations before planting in drylands, as they contribute to restoring fertility, reducing erosion and favoring water capture during the rainy season. They consist mainly in the creation of stonewalls, half-moons, Vallerani trenches [18], and zaï pits (see Table S2 in Supplementary Materials for a detailed description of soil and land management practices). Supplementary Table S2 for more details on different technical solutions used in restoration). ...
... Soil and land management practices are often essential preliminary operations before planting in drylands, as they contribute to restoring fertility, reducing erosion and favoring water capture during the rainy season. They consist mainly in the creation of stonewalls, half-moons, Vallerani trenches [18], and zaï pits (see Table S2 in Supplementary Materials for a detailed description of soil and land management practices). ...
How Is Forest Landscape Restoration Being Implemented in Burkina Faso? Overview of Ongoing Initiatives
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2020
Land degradation affects a significant portion of the Earth’s ice-free land area and several countries have embraced the challenge of restoring large parts of their degraded lands. Success in these efforts depends on various factors, including the amount of resources invested, the technical capacity available and the degree of involvement of stakeholders. Burkina Faso has committed to restoring 5 Mha of degraded land by 2030. We identified 39 forest landscape restoration initiatives (FLR) in this country and interviewed their managers to obtain an overview of critical aspects and constraints that could orient future efforts. Our results show a recent growth of FLR initiatives, as most of the projects examined started in the last few years; however, the scale of implementation seems incompatible with country-level targets. Funding is coming mainly from international cooperation and this may lead to risks in long-term continuity and sustainability of FLR. Furthermore, FLR projects are carried out by a multitude of agencies, with local NGOs and associations as the main players; this finding highlights the need to coordinate ongoing efforts and flag challenges in tracking progress. Tree planting is common to most FLR initiatives examined, with aspects of quality and quantity of planting material available becoming critical in ensuring success; this raises the need to ensure farmers are well-trained in its collection and handling. Finally, more homogeneous approaches in monitoring across FLR initiatives should be adopted.
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... In Jordan, the 'Vallerani' tractor-plow based MWH technique (Antinori and Vallerani, 1994;Gammoh and Oweis, 2011) was introduced through the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and Jordan's National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in the course of the Water Benchmarks project of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) (Karrou et al., 2011). Important restoration initiatives are the National Programme for Rangeland Rehabilitation and Development, conducted from 1999 to 2006, and the Badia Restoration Program (BRP), Community Action Plan (CAP), launched in 2008. ...
... The bottom of the pit was approximately 0.2 to 0.3-m deeper than the natural surface, which allowed for surface water collection. The top of the ridge exceeded the soil surface by from 0.3 to 0.5 m (Gammoh and Oweis, 2011). In each of the pits two shrub-seedlings (Atriplex halimus) were planted by the local community at the onset of the 2016/2017 rainy season ( Figure 2c). ...
Micro Water Harvesting Effects on the Soil-Water-Plant Relationship of out-planted Shrub Seedlings in Jordan’s Badia
Poster
Full-text available
  • Apr 2018
Overgrazing and barley agriculture severely degraded large extent of the Jordanian Eastern rangelands, the so called Badia, which resulted in tangible decline of services provided by these ecosystems. In many areas of Jordan the depleted and crusted soils and the arid climate impede the recovery of the native range vegetation. Restoration through deep-ripping the soils and the creation of intermitted micro Water Harvesting (WH) pits for out-planting, using the Vallerani tractor plough, is being widely applied throughout the country. However, the effects of micro WH on the small scale soil water dynamics and the out-planted shrub-seedlings are not yet well understood. Nearby Al-Majidyya village, approximately 20km south-east of Amman, a newly restored experimental site was facilitated for monitoring i) the meteorological conditions, ii) the hill-slope transect soil moisture, and iii) the development of the out-planted high quality shrub seedlings simultaneously. Approximately weekly soil profile moisture readings using Time Domain Reflectometry were overlaid with monthly shrub survey data. Soil moisture assessment in time and space, across a hillslope treated by micro WH, uncovered the soil water availabilities supporting the seedlings’ growth in their early stage through mitigating intra-seasonal water shortage. Furthermore, the high resolution soil moisture data obtained allow conclusions on the deep-leaching of water in the WH pit, potentially infiltrating into the deeper soil layers and eventually recharging groundwater. The detailed information on rainfall, runoff and infiltration dynamics - related with various stage micro WH structure - enables the optimization of the mechanized micro WH based restoration approach. Thus, supporting the out-planted shrub seedlings during their early stage and mitigating the risk of restoration fails interrelated with the scarce and erratic occurrence of rainfall in Jordan’s arid rangelands.
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... The specially designed implements for RWH purposes are the hydraulically controlled Vallerani "dolfeno" and "Treno", which were adapted to various soils and terrain with subsoiling (Antinori and Vallerani 1994;Malagnoux 2009). The Dolfino was later equipped with contour laser guiding mechanism, which further cut labor cost (Gammoh and Oweis 2011b). Seeds and or shrubs and tree seedlings can be grown in the ridges and bund basins. ...
... The cost per hectare of the laser guidance system assuming a 15 year life for the device is less than USD1.0 per ha (Gammoh and Oweis 2011b). The total cost of the restoration package also includes the production, planting, and maintenance of the shrub seedlings -USD11.0 per hawhich brings the total package establishment cost to USD32 per ha. ...
Rainwater harvesting for restoring degraded dry agro-pastoral ecosystems: a conceptual review of opportunities and constraints in a changing climate
Article
Full-text available
Water resources in dry environments are becoming scarcer, especially under the changing climate. In response, rainwater harvesting (RWH) is being reemphasized with calls to revive the practice. Ancient knowledge on RWH — mainly the collection through runoff, storage, and use of rainwater for various purposes — is still relevant, especially for dry environments. However, many old practices and technologies may not be suitable or feasible for the present and future. Little has been done to modernize and (or) develop new practices and technologies based on ancient indigenous knowledge. Modernizing old practices or developing new ones and using them in integrated rangelands restoration packages with enabling policy environment can unlock their potential in many water-scarce regions of the world. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of micro-catchment rainwater harvesting (MIRWH) in dry environments and discusses the opportunities available and the major obstacles faced in using it to restore degraded agro-pastoral ecosystems and support their sustainability. The review highlights the knowledge behind it, the practices developed over the years, and their relevance to today and the future. The paper indicates areas of modernization that can make it more feasible for the future of the dry environments, especially their role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Conventional and passive approaches to restoring/rehabilitating degraded dry agro-pastoral ecosystems are either too slow to show an obvious impact or not progressing satisfactorily. One main reason is that, because of land degradation, the majority of rain falling on such ecosystems and needed for revegetation is lost with little benefit being gained. Adopting a more progressive intervention to alter the processes of degradation and move towards new system equilibrium is required. MIRWH can enable a large portion of this otherwise lost rainwater to be stored in the soil, and, if used in an integrated packages including suitable plant species and sound grazing management, it may support meaningful vegetation growth and help system restoration. The Badia Benchmark project, implemented by ICARDA in Jordan and Syria, has demonstrated the potential for adoption at large scale in similar environments. This case study illustrates the potential and the constraints of this practice.
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Micro-catchment Rainwater Harvesting
Chapter
  • May 2022
Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice that helped in meeting basic water needs and reduced water shortages mainly in arid and semi-arid regions. Rainfall, through runoff, can be captured downstream of a suitable “catchment” area. The capture and storage of rainwater can be beneficially used. Harvesting water depends not only on the rainfall amount, but also on its pattern and intensity and on the catchment and storage conditions. Storage is a vital component of rainwater harvesting systems and can be surface or subsurface reservoirs or simply a soil profile. Uses include domestic, agriculture, industrial and environment sectors. Micro-catchment rainwater harvesting (MIWH) systems are based on having a small runoff catchment, normally at the household or farm level. In MIWH, runoff flows as sheet flow downstream to a storage facility to be used later for various purposes. Among the most common MIWH types are the Household systems including rooftops and cisterns and the Farm and Landscape systems including contour ridges, bunds, small runoff basins and strips. This chapter provides an overall description of the types, uses and limitations of MIWH. It also presents cases where MIWH plays an important role in providing necessary water for people and agriculture in addition to combating desertification and coping with climate change in dry environments. The implementation of those systems, however, face several technical, social, financial, and environmental constraints. Recommendations to help overcoming those constraints are provided for the rural dry environments where the need for water and food is critical.
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Rehabilitation of degraded rangelands in Jordan: The effects of mechanized micro water harvesting on hill-slope scale soil water and vegetation dynamics
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2021
Overexploitation and climate change accelerate the degradation of Jordan's arid rangelands. Uncovered and crusted soils increase runoff and erosion and hinder the emergence of the native vegetation. Micro water harvesting combined with shrub-seedling plantation have been widely applied to reverse land degradation trends. However, consequential soil water and vegetation dynamics have been rarely assessed, which constrains further out-scaling of the rehabilitation practice to complex environments. In Jordan, an experiment was set up to study the linkages between local rainfall characteristics, soil moisture and the development of out-planted shrub-seedlings. Soil moisture was recorded at approximately weekly time-interval during the rainy and dry season 2017/2018 using a manually operated soil water sensor. Transect monitoring was pursued up and down the slope across four micro water harvesting pits and the interspaces. Data confirmed a significant soil moisture increase inside the pits-bridging intra-seasonal dry spells and soil water potentially deep-percolated into the karstic bedrock underneath. The study found that the out-planted shrubs' stem diameter and height predominantly increased during post rainy season, when the interspaces dried up while the pits continued providing moisture. The results are promising and contribute to integrated research towards halting land degradation and sustainable agro-pastoral development.
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Degraded Arid Land Restoration for Afforestation and Agro-Silvo-Pastoral Production through New Water Harvesting Mechanized Technology
Chapter
  • Jan 2009
The Keita Integrated Development Project implemented in Niger during the 1980s was an Employment Intensive Investment Project. While working within the project's framework in 1987, Venanzio Vallerani, an Italian expert, noted the slow pace of land reclamation and the demanding nature of the work due to the scarce availability of workers (low population density). Hence, most of the degraded lands with heavy soils were abandoned. To achieve a significant impact, he noted that rapid reclamation of large areas was needed. He invented two ploughs, the “Delfino” (dolphin) and the “Treno” (train), which were adapted to different soil types and were able to reclaim large areas of degraded land. These automatic ploughs built micro-catchment basins at a rate of 700–1,500 “half-moons” per hour (compared with the 1–2 hand made “half-moons” built per day per worker on comparable soils). This new technology has been tested from 1988 to the present in ten countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia), where nearly 100,000 ha were treated. This report is based mainly on results obtained within the framework of the projects Forestry and Food Security in Africa and the Acacia Operation. This technology is compared with other mechanized technologies and hand-made water catchments. Its potential contribution to huge land reclamation programmes, such as TerrAfrica and the Green Wall for the Sahara, is presented.
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Machinery Management: Fundamentals of Machine Operation
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  • 10-11
  • W Bowers
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Tal Rimah range rehabilitation-Recreating a valuable resource
  • Jan 2008
  • 18
  • R J Al-Tabini
  • J D Libbin
  • H Saub
  • D W Bailey
  • I Abuamoud
  • J M Hawkes
R.J. Al-Tabini, J.D. Libbin, H. Saub, D.W. Bailey, I. Abuamoud, J.M. Hawkes, Tal Rimah range rehabilitation-Recreating a valuable resource, Report No. 4 of Jordan Component of the Sustainable Development of Dry Lands Project, New Mexico State Univ., Jordan, 2008, p. 18.
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